ST. CATHARINES, Ont.- Laura Skopelianos was awarded the Outstanding Female Wrestler of the Tournament and was the lone Mustang to win gold at the Brock Open on Jan. 12. 

The fourth-year kinesiology student won the individual 51-kg gold medal to lead the Mustangs to a third-place finish, placing with 25 points while Guelph was second with 28 points. 

Host Brock placed first overall with 58 points.  

Skopelianos, the defending OUA champion, defeated Brock’s Liz Martindale in two straight rounds (1-0, 2-0) in a repeat of last year’s OUA final.  

Co-captain Jill McCallum placed second at 72 kg, while co-captain Katrina Huszarik placed 4th at 59 kg. 

Western's Lesley McCallum (no relation to Jill) won the individual bronze at 55 kg. 
London-Western teammate Katie Patroch won gold at 63 kg, while Heather Wray (59 kg) and Sam Dunlop (51 kg) both placed third in the their respective weight classes. 

The Mustang men placed third overall in team standings with 25 points, well behind defending CIS champions Brock who finished with 78 points and second place Guelph with 37 points. 

Captain Jeff Werden placed second at 54 kg while teammates Phil Medeiros and Chen Shen both placed 3rd at 61 and 57 kg respectively. 

“It was a good opener for us,” said head coach Ray Takahashi. “All of our wrestlers got a good number of matches and we faired reasonably well after the long December break.” 

The next tournament for the mustangs will be the Guelph Open on Sunday Jan. 20 which will feature elite competition from clubs across Canada. The tournament is one of two domestic tournaments designated by the Canadian Wrestling Association for athletes to acquire national team points for National Carding. 

Past female athlete of the year, Terri McNutt will compete, representing London-Western.  McNutt recently earned the Olympic alternate position at 55 kg in December losing to Tonya Verbeek of Brock who placed 2nd at the Athens’ Olympics.

Also competing will be Mustang Jennifer Nguyen who placed 9th at the 2007 Junior World Championships. 

Brock Open Results
Individual Medallists  
Women
Laura Skopelianos            1st 51 kg
Katie Patroch                     1st 63 kg (London-Western)
Jill McCallum                      2nd 72 kg
Lesley McCallum              3rd 55 kg
Sam Dunlop                        3rd 51 kg (London-Western)
Heather Wray                    3rd 59 kg (London-Western)

Men
Jeff Werden                       2nd 54 kg
Phil Medeiros                    3rd 61 kg
Chen Shen                          3rd 57 kg